John
Taplin was a member of our local Hastings
Electronics and Radio Club. Though blind as you can see from this short video
extracted from a DVD depicting a couple of our other members when making a
inventory of his large collection of equipment after his death,he was a very keen and active Radio
Amateur for many years. He was even known to have climbed out of the window of
the upper ‘ shack ‘ in this video to climb on the roof to install
and adjust the aerials. He often burnt his fingers doing the soldering of his
equipment, much of which he installed entirely by himself. He was also a keen
Ballroom dancer, and can be seen here playing the piano. The centre where the
club holds its meetings was named after him and used by the local RNIB.